Stigma is an issue that has impacted families affected by substance use for many years. In 2012 Adfam published Challenging stigma, a report which looked in detail at the stigma and prejudice faced by families. Among all else it found that, regardless of their own behaviour, families felt defined by the stigmatising labels attributed to…
In January the Government released its annual adult substance misuse treatment statistics for 2021 – 2022. The figures mostly showed little change from the previous year and responses from Local Government, NHS providers and charities struggled to find anything new to say. They broadly welcomed an increase in the number of people seeking treatment for…
This is an unsent letter from a mother to her son called ‘I am not having it’, which has been kindly shared with us in the hope that it will help other mothers going through what she is going through. I am not having it ‘Whatever you say AND forever and a day, “I am…
This article was originally published in the April edition of DDN magazine on Monday 3rd April. The edition can be downloaded here (p13): https://www.drinkanddrugsnews.com/ddn-april-2023/ Unhealthy Relationship Drinking does not necessarily need to be frequent or considered dependent for it to have a damaging impact on intimate partner* relationships. This is one of the key discoveries…
This article was written by Cassey Muir, Fuse & NIHR School for Public health Research (SPHR) funded PhD Researcher from Newcastle University and Kira Terry, Lived Experience Expert, and originally published on the Fuse Open Science Blog. You can also read a published journal article by Cassey reviewing the existing literature around children and young people’s…
Read the runner-up from Adfam’s Family Voices Competition 2022. Family Voices is an annual poetry and creative writing competition open to families affected by substance use to share their experiences.
Councillor Jay Hayes is an elected representative for Bestwood Ward on Nottingham City Council, and the Council’s Executive Assistant for Health and Culture. In November 2022 Jay met with Rob Stebbings from Adfam to talk about his personal experience of being in a family affected by substance use, and his view on the role local…
This article was published for Drink and Drug Use, and the original can be accessed here: https://www.drinkanddrugsnews.com/recovery-street-film-festival-is-back-celebrating-its-eighth-edition/ Over one hundred films have been entered into the festival competition and these entries have been watched by well over one million people to date. The idea has always been to give people with lived experience a platform to…
An exhibition of portraits and words of addiction by Antonia Rolls. With photography by Michael McAlister, drawings by Marie Paul and the wall hanging “Stitch Away The Stigma” by textile artist Natalie Needham. I am an artist, and there is addiction in my family. It is a painful, destructive, chaotic and shameful thing to admit…
Fifteen years ago, my dad died in hospital having spent a week on an intensive care ward because his organs were shutting down. Grieving with my mum and sister, I admit to also feeling a sense of relief that I no longer had to worry about him, feel frustrated about his drinking or ashamed about his behaviour.